“This is
good news we have finally made it,” said skipper Geoffrey Massa
after the tough encounter.

Uganda
qualified as second after Burkina Faso, which beat visiting
Botswana 2-1 to top the group. Uganda and Burkina Faso finished
with 14 points each but the West Africans beat Uganda 1-0.

Head
Coach Milutin Sredojevic said this is a great day when Uganda
return to the Afcon after 38 years.

“The
boys have done the whole nation proud because it was not an easy
battle playing against a team that has nothing to lose,”
Sredojevic said.

Uganda
is the only team from the Council for East and Central African
Football Associations region that will be at next year’ s Afcon
finals in Gabon.

.

Uganda dreams of beating
38-year Africa Cup of Nations jinx

KAMPALA, (Xinhua) --Geoffrey Massa wakes up every morning to light
exercises before joining the rest of the team in the afternoon
for general training.

Under the scorching
sun, the young lads sweat profusely but their coach, Serbian
born Milutin Sredojevic, shouts ‘Harder’ reminding them that the
team has to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)
after a 38-year jinx.

The last time Uganda
appeared at the continent’s biggest football showpiece was in
1978 in Ghana when they lost to the hosts during the final.

Uganda will have
another chance to try and solve the puzzle if they can conjure
up a positive result against visiting Comoros on Sept. 4.

The game will also
have lots of meaning as Uganda are the only team in the east and
central African region with a chance of making it to the 2017
Afcon competition in Gabon.

“This is the time we
should prove a point and make history,” Massa, who is the
captain of the team told Xinhua shortly after training.

All that the team
needs in this Afcon qualifier is a win in its Group D tie and
hope that Group leaders Burkina Faso can draw against Botswana.

A win for Burkina
Faso and a win for Uganda could also still see coach
Sredojevic’s team qualify for being among the best two second
placed teams.

“That match looks
easy but it is a very difficult game because it will put players
and fans under pressure,” Tom Lwanga, who was part of the Cranes
team that appeared in the 1978 Afcon event, told Xinhua.

The former defender
noted that winning against Comoros will need a lot of motivation
on and off the pitch.

“Some of us are very
eager to see the national team qualify again when we are still
alive,” said ex-goalkeeper Paul Ssali who guided Uganda to the
1978 Afcon final.

The country’s
football federation has already earmarked a cash reward of
10,000 U.S. dollars per player if the team qualifies.

“We have put in
place a motivating aspect with every member of the squad to get
10,000 dollars if they qualify for the tournament,” said Uganda
FA Chief Executive Officer Edgar Watson.

After two wins
against Botswana and another away to Comoros together with a
draw against Burkina Faso, Uganda has what it takes to book a
ticket to Gabon for the 2017 Afcon.

The likes of Tony
Mawejje, Massa, Godfrey Walusimbi, Emmanuel Okwi and goalkeepers
Denis Onyango and Robert Odonkara will be expected to use their
experience to push the team which has previously missed out
narrowly to qualify on two occasions.

With Uganda chasing
a place in the 2017 Afcon, the teams that have already qualified
include Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Egypt, Ghana,
Senegal, Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

UPDATE:

Ethiopia to launch
flights to Moroni, Comoros

ADDIS ABABA, (Xinhua) --Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it has
finalized preparations to launch flights to Moroni, Comoros with
the latest B737-800 as of the 30th of Oct. 2016.

Moroni
is the largest city, the federal capital and seat of the
government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago
nation in the Indian Ocean.

The
flights to Moroni will be operated thrice weekly via Dar es
Salaam, according to the statement from the company on Monday.

Moroni
will be the airline’s 54th African destination, noted
the statement.

“We
believe our flights to Moroni and elsewhere in our beloved
continent, Africa, contribute positively to the overall
development of the continent and serve as a critically essential
vehicle for the flow of investment, trade and tourism,” said CEO
of Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde GebreMariam.

.

EARLIER REPORT:

Ethiopian Airlines to add
flights to China’s Guangzhou

ADDIS ABABA, (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will
add a thrice weekly service, on top of its daily flights, to
Guangzhou as of October 8 this year.

Hence
forth, Ethiopian will operate 11 weekly flights to and from
Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, the
airline said in a statement on Monday.

“We are
pleased to launch more frequency to Guangzhou, one of the
largest Chinese cities. Ethiopian has become the airline of
choice among travelers between China, Africa and Brazil,” said
Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of the Ethiopian Airlines.

“For
sure, this move will play a significant role to the growing
economic and people-to-people ties between Africa and China,” he
said.

According to the CEO, the airline now operates 31 weekly flights
to four gateways in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong
Kong.

Ethiopian is among the fastest growing and most profitable
African airlines. The statement said the airline operates the
youngest fleet with an average of less than 5 years and
currently serving 93 international destinations with over 240
daily departures.